You should already have kicked off your strategy and planning for 2017 (while continuing to run through the tape at the end of 2016).

While you’re in planning mode, you should also consider what’s going on globally, now and into the next several years.

One great resource for staying on top of trends is the yearly report from the Trendwatching website. Many of their reports are free, but you can also get a paid account for additional access and insights.

The trends outlined in their latest report, “5 Trends for 2017,” can offer you food for thought while you address budget, resources, and tactics for the coming year.

VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

We have all heard the buzz surrounding augmented reality and virtual reality; soon these types of digital experiences will become the norm rather than an exotic toy. You probably can’t turn your blog into a Magic Leap-worthy whale splash, but you can start to consider the importance of experiences over content.

Your customers are jaded with listicles and slides.

They want to know you and your world. Offer them digital experiences that reinforce your relationship and bring them closer.

The Trendwatching report states that experiences are becoming currency, as limited-access or insider style events make consumers feel like the brand is part of their identity.

Time to brainstorm the types of experiences (real-world and virtual) you can offer your customers/fans/readers.

WORLDS APART

Right now, I can instantly talk with someone in Dubai via video chat.

The world can participate in the #MannequinChallenge on Twitter.

News breaking anywhere in the world is readily accessible.

The new consumer sees a global community and is sorting out their place within it. How does my own relationship to home relate to my knowledge of world challenges? What impact can I have, at home and abroad?

Your challenge as an entrepreneur is to plug into the global society and build bridges where you can. This ties into the strong wave of interest in corporate responsibility and charitable work as well. What types of actions can you take in your business that both support your mission and bond you to the global community at the same time?

POST-DEMOGRAPHIC CONSUMERISM

In the past, marketers liked to segment consumers along strong demographic lines, as if all 21 year old females purchased as a block. The trend now is to target the consumer as an individual, often someone who breaks the old patterns of demographics and behavior.

Your customers aren’t thinking of themselves as 40-60 year old males, so you should stop looking at them that way as well.

Another part of this larger trend is the desire for consumers to be incognito individuals, free from tracking. There’s a wish to be anonymous, or to view the world through the experience of another person (how about the ability to switch your social feed to someone else’s, just to get out of your own bubble).

CAPACITY CAPTURE

We’ve already been educated about sustainability and the trend towards lowering your business impact on resources. The newer trend is toward looking for ways to use resources that might have gone to waste. Think “selling” back unused energy to the power company, or sending packages along with an Uber driver.

Brainstorm some ways that your business might have unused capacity that could be a positive value to someone else. How can you look at these new business models and turn your excess into gold?

BIG BROTHER BRANDS

Yes, we might start using the term “Big Brother” as a positive! Consumers will expect to be monitored and tracked, but will also expect to get value out of giving up some level of privacy. Isn’t it great when you can yell “Hey Siri, who’s singing that song?” into the air, and she responds? Already, my front door unlocks as I approach, because of technology we’ve installed.

As an entrepreneur, the way to take advantage of this trend is to seek ways to provide personalized service that delights the customer. At a micro level, you can leverage publicly available information (or information the customer has shared with you over time) to tailor your offerings, or even to surprise them with a gift. What if you looked at a customer’s Pinterest boards to find a small gift that suits their interests?

Just don’t be creepy about it. Always consider how you’d feel in the situation first.

These top trends for 2017 will certainly affect your business in the coming year. How will you move to leverage them? Are you already on top of some of these? Please share your experiences.

Learn Everything

We all want that ability to be able to see the next big trend before it happens — what people will be wanting, doing, needing, going to, and buying NEXT. We want to be there ready and waiting for those customers.

Some folks can see that next trend and hit it fairly often. No one can do it 100%. No one can get any customer base to behave 100% predictably.

Good morning, Class.
Find the next trend. Oh yes, 97.9% of you wll fail this test.

What’s Your Passion?

What’s your passion? These days that seems a too-popular question. If you ask what to write, the answer is Write your passion.

Maybe I’m aN uptight, out-dated, and downright uncreative about that word, but I don’t think of passion in that broader context. My passion involves, um . . . er . . . other activities. When I went looking to write my passion, I found that it didn’t want to be written about. [Read more…]

It’s true I often can. My friend, Chartreuse BETA, is phenomenal at trendspotting, as is our friend, Copyblogger.Scot Karp is excellent at seeing what trends are about to happen. Sometimes it depresses him. Don’t leave out Tom Peters. . . . How exactly do we do that?

What does it take to spot a trend before it takes root and actually happens? What does a person need to watch for? Seeing trends seems to be a factor of intelligence, learning style, and world view. Allowing that you have the prerequisite intelligence — we’re talking business acumen, common sense, and people smarts, not rocket science — the rest is a matter of doing the work and being open to what’s happening. This is lesson 1 on being a trendspotter. [Read more…]

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